


Born to be wild

by crimsonepitaph



Series: 2016 Writing Project [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Hunter Jess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-06
Updated: 2016-09-06
Packaged: 2018-08-13 09:20:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7971556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crimsonepitaph/pseuds/crimsonepitaph
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam and Jess catch a case in Montana. (It's always more complicated than that.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Born to be wild

**Author's Note:**

> Note #1: Huge thank you to Betty for the beta, and for all the help in developing this story. She makes it super-fun!
> 
> Note #2: Second work in this project was driven by the idea of Jess as a hunter, which caught roots in my mind ever since I saw it mentioned in a tweet.

She’s beautiful.

Jess, surrounded by the bright green of the forest, under the warm summer sun. She’s just a few feet away from Sam, looking, searching, scrutinizing the area for the trail marks.

They don’t need them – Sam and Jess aren’t looking to follow the obvious trail, because the case, like almost every case, doesn’t happen on the beaten path.

Bitterroot Forest, Montana, and a creature that’s proven too elusive for the local authorities. Sam found it. Sam’s the one who documents, researches, finds clues, and Jess is the one who puts it all together, creates the picture from the scattered points Sam provides.

Still. Right now, Sam’s an audience member in a show he doesn’t completely understand. Jess hasn’t said a word. Maybe it’s yesterday’s silence spilling over into the hours of the morning, a yesterday different from any other.

It isn’t every day that you watch your estranged brother living the life you wished for once upon a time.

Since yesterday, it’s been just them, the car, and a silence that holds all the possibilities for the things that could go wrong.

Sam’s tense. He’s irritable, he’s adamant about burying all the opinions he has on Dean and his monster-free, apple-pie normal life under the matter at hand. Jess usually knows how to handle that.

But not now.

So Sam watches.

He’s good at that, and he’s known Jess long enough for the obvious not to matter, for Sam to know this is something that Jess has no idea how to tell Sam.

And it’s something new and difficult, because she usually asks for help more than she actually needs, because she knows Sam needs to know what’s going on in her head, and Jess does it with the self-assurance of a deliberate choice.

Jess always talks to him.

Jess, Sam’s hunting partner, yells at him. When he moves too slow in the face of a threat to himself because he’s protecting her, when he insists on going first because of a misguided sense of gentlemanly etiquette, when she reminds him that haunted asylums don’t care about Sam’s boy scout manners.

Jess, Sam’s wife, whispers to him. _I love you_ in his ear just before she falls asleep, _good morning_ when he gets out of the shower.

Jess, the woman, the warrior, the strengths, the vulnerable human being beneath it all –Sam thinks he knows her inside out.

But Sam doesn’t understand her right now.

He sees the strands of caramel-colored hair covering the scar on her cheek. Watches her left hand, clasped around the water bottle, with the wedding band on her finger, the only jewelry she’s wearing.

They’re familiar; the frown on Jess’ face when she looks at him is not.

Is it something he did wrong? Or is it just the case?

It shouldn’t be. Two men killed in the middle of the forest days apart, throats slit, blood drained – gross, inhumane, but, on the other hand, isn’t that the name of the game?

Jess turns to him, blue eyes simmering with all she hasn’t said. Fear, concern – doubt? Sam may be reading the last one wrong.

“What?” Sam asks, a single word that hopes merits all the answers that have been withheld until now. “What is it, Jess?”

He can’t wait anymore. He needs to know.

And despite that, Sam waits, he waits for a long explanation, for something that makes sense.

“Dean’s in danger,” is all Jess finally says.

Sam stares at her. It’s no small miracle that he manages to get out, shaky, uneven, “How - Why?”

This is a case. A case, that happens to be close to where Dean lives now.

Jess can’t think this is about Dean.

Dean, the brother who saved Sam and Jess’ life, but lost all memories of his old life in the process.

Dean, who’s not a hunter any more – who doesn’t know he ever was.

Dean, who found happiness in a life Sam can never share.

Dean, the brother who Sam misses more than he can ever love Jess.

Dean, who doesn’t remember anyone named Sam..

“His wife. I think his wife is a monster.”

It should be funny. Sam should double over and laugh, and this should be a bad scene from an even worse horror movie.

But it isn’t.

Jess wants Sam to tell Dean. Jess wants  to shatter the frail equilibrium Sam’s found.

“No,” is all Sam says, and he doesn’t bother explaining.

He starts walking instead.

It’s about a mile till Sam realizes Jess followed him. It’s some ways after that Sam notices Jess hasn’t said anything more.

It’s a only a few minutes later that Sam understands something that he knew from the start.

It’s about Dean. It will always be.

It’s the anchor that Sam doesn’t understand if it’s grounding him or holding him back.

Sam stops, breathes. He looks at the sky.

No clouds. It’s a good day to destroy his brother’s life.

 


End file.
